Try closing your "Preview" application. If you are like me and you set psd's to automatically open in Preview rather than Photoshop for easy and quick viewing purposes, it will not allow Photoshop to save if the file is also opened in it.

If Photoshop says the file is open - then some external process has left the file open. It has nothing to do with it being open in Photoshop, or even in Bridge. This has happened sometimes when Spotlight had bugs (which have come up more than once, and been fixed in OS dot releases).

The external process could be another application, or an OS service like Spotlight.

As for being in use in other apps, as I recall, if I have, for example, a QuarkXPress page open; one that contains a graphic now open in Photoshop, and I wish to edit and save that file, I will get a similar message.

I have the same problem using InDesign and Photoshop together. When I place a .psd-file in Indesign and option + click on it the image opens in Photoshop. When I try to save it, from time to time I get the message: "could not save ... because the file is already in use or was left open". When I close the Indesign-document I can save the PSD-file.That's not normal.

Photoshop is showing you that message because SOME OTHER APPLICATION has the file open. (the message wouldn't make any sense at all if Photoshop itself had the file open, even if you ignore the fact that Photoshop does not leave files open)

You identified InDesign as being the culprit -- for some reason InDesign keeps the file open when it has been placed.

Now you need to ask in the InDesign forum if there is some way to avoid that, or if the InDesign team can fix the bug.

Again, this is not a Photoshop problem in any way.

Photoshop is just reporting an external problem to you - caused by some application other than Photoshop.

Now that you have identified which other application is causing the problem for you, you need to let the folks working on that application know about it and see if they have a fix, or can fix it in an upcoming release.

Hello i have similiar problem.... I tried to save the file with other nam. in other directory...but not success...whenever i am trying to save it will pop up a message displaying could not save because the files is reade or in use..... and will create a file named something like this. ~psBB72.tmp... Please any solution... thanks

Ooops...looks like Apple recreated the psiicon.dll and the aiicon.dll problem that plagued Windows users for years and that will still bite them in Windows 7 if they have the thumbnail view turned on for their folders...

Mac users...try using list view instead of cover flow, check to make sure you don't have something open in Expose or Spaces (you might and you just don't remember it)...at least Mac users can do a Save As...Windows users are just screwed as there is no way to do a Save or Save As once you hit the Microsoft bug...

It's an annoying Photoshop/Lightroom 2.5 bug for me. From LR, I edit an image in Photoshop and save it. A .tif is automatically created. I can jump back into Lightroom where the new Tif file shows up beside the RAW file. Now if I go to edit the Tif file in Photoshop again, I get the message when I try to save it a second time. I must shut down LR first and then I can save it. Very annoying. I'm on OSX 10.5.8

I haven't been aware if the folder containing the file has been open on the desktop but I just opened a folder containing a new document I made and will be working on it tonight and let you know if I can repeat the error.

Also I will check next time the error happen is that file is open on the desktop.

Been working on a 334.1 meg file for the last 2 hours and have been able to save until now. I didn't change anything. I do have the folder where the file is, open in the background on the desktop but it's been that way since I started.

Being that I need this file for a job, I renamed it and saved it to the same folder.

I'm having this problem as well. In addition to that, I'm also getting a "File has changed since last save" errors (don't have the error in front me so don't know the exact message). Not at the same time of course... I'm just pointing out I'm getting two strange file related errors. This is all happening since moving to Snow Leopard.

And, to make clear, the file is NOT open anywhere else when getting the "open" error and the file had NOT been changed when getting the "changed" error.

I noticed that this problem has been around though several versions of Photoshop and several versions MacOS. You responded to my last inquiry November 2nd and I was wondering if your QE had time to look at this problem yet?

I only have this problem with Photoshop files and no other applications or programs.

I agree with jsinger986. I have been getting both the "Could not save" and the "File has been changed" errors with Photoshop CS4 since Snow Leopard. It's real anoying. I wish someone would come up with a fix. I've never had these errors before.